It will be the most luxurious Formula One ever

After five opening races in the Persian Gulf, the Formula 1 World Championship is returning to kick off the season on Australian soil. In this year's calendar, the two stops in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, which have opened the championship since 2020 (without time zone issues), have been postponed by a few weeks due to Ramadan; and so, a familiar tradition for the world of Formula 1 is being reinstated—one that dates back to the 1990s, before the pandemic: the opening at Albert Park, Melbourne. It’s the first highly anticipated test for the teams and drivers, but also for the race track (modified after last year’s accidents) and the many novelties of the 2025 season. Among them, the new look of the event doesn’t go unnoticed, starting with its new official name: Louis Vuitton Australian Grand Prix. This is the result of the recent, massive partnership between Liberty Media—the company that holds the rights to Formula 1, and soon also MotoGP—and the LVMH group—the luxury and fashion empire that includes Louis Vuitton, Moët Hennessy, TAG Heuer, and a long list of other prestigious brands.

The F1-LVMH partnership didn’t emerge out of nowhere; it’s part of a larger ongoing—and now expanding—convergence between the world of speed, luxury, and their respective target audiences. For Formula 1, it is rooted in demographic growth and the recent repositioning of the product on the global market; for Louis Vuitton, it represents an opportunity to return—front and center—to a field that has historically been in its DNA (travel, cars, and racing), and is now the subject of growing interest.

Louis Vuitton Grand Prix

The merger of the two worlds has led the Parisian maison, alongside other brands from the LVMH universe involved in the sponsorship, to its first-ever title partnership in the championship. So, in Melbourne, we will see the LV logo everywhere: in the paddock, on the podium (with the Trophy Trunks, the trophy cases), in clothing and accessories; as well as, of course, in advertising spaces, TV graphics, social media content, and various activations around the event. 150 million dollars per season: that’s the value of the ten-year agreement (ending in 2034) between LVMH and Formula 1. The deal includes the participation of other brands from the group, in addition to Louis Vuitton: TAG Heuer was already a partner of the Monaco Grand Prix and this year has replaced Rolex as the official timekeeper of the World Championship; Moët & Chandon and Belvedere have secured prominent exposure on the podium and during off-track events over the weekend; and in the background, for now, are the many LVMH brands that are potential contenders for an adventure in F1 (such as Hublot, Dior, Givenchy, Loro Piana, Fendi, Kenzo).

Formula 1 Extra-Luxury

The attraction of premium brands like these certifies the now established flirtation between Formula 1, the glamorous world, and the luxury industry. A trend also supported by the drivers, as seen with Chivas Regal (high-end Scotch whisky), Richard Mille (watches), and AlphaTauri (high-end sportswear), associated respectively with Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, and Max Verstappen. But it’s an understanding that goes beyond simple sponsorships and has been inspired by the restructuring of the product initiated and implemented by Liberty Media.

Since 2016, when the American company took over, the Formula 1 phenomenon has experienced significant expansion, becoming more attractive to different audience segments and broadening the size of the community. One of the driving forces behind this transformation has been the Drive to Survive series, which has offered viewers an unprecedented look behind the scenes of the show. It has brought the audience closer to the protagonists and made some aspects of pure engineering more accessible, or at least familiar. The explosion of the Netflix docu-reality, now about to launch its seventh season, has exceeded even the most optimistic initial predictions, becoming not only a must-watch for sports series fans (imitated by countless competitors) but also an exceptional promotional vehicle for F1.

In 2024, the global fanbase reached 750 million people, confirming the post-pandemic growth rate of around 5% per year. In particular, the current following includes many more young people (42% of fans are under 35) and many more women (41%) compared to the past; both in front of the screen (1.6 billion total viewers in 2024, with 97 million followers on the circus’s social media profiles) and live (6 million paying spectators at circuits worldwide in 2024, with record figures in Australia, Brazil, Qatar, and Hungary). The real boom has occurred in the United States, a market that has been at the top of Liberty Media's priorities from the start, both commercially (including broadcast and media partners) and in the definition of the calendar (which has seen the addition of Miami in 2022 and Las Vegas in 2023, along with the historic Austin, Texas Grand Prix).

At the same time, global business has grown, as evidenced by data emerging from the latest financial reports. If in 2021, the total revenue of Formula 1 was around 2.1 billion dollars, in 2024 it reached 3.4 billion; with 32.8% of this generated by TV rights, 29.3% from GP promoters, and 18.6% from sponsors. All of this has made Formula 1, in the eyes of brands, an ideal platform to reach different audience segments and connect with a fanbase that is present almost ubiquitously around the world and within the social fabric. The rest has been done by the increasingly exclusive nature of the GPs, which over the decades have shifted from being popular sporting events (remember the camping in the grass at the racetracks?) to VIP and luxury brand catwalks (with dynamics similar, for example, to those of the Super Bowl, World Series, and hospitality areas in football stadiums). In short, the ground is becoming increasingly fertile for luxury and high-fashion brands. These brands, which were already attracted by the mix of innovation, engineering, adrenaline, and excellence in this world, are now completely captivated by it.